Tri-Nations: Kiwis make four changes

[DeeGan]

Kiwis make four changes
From correspondents in Wellington
October 18, 2005

NEW Zealand coach Brian McClennan has made four changes to the side that upset Australia for Friday's return Tri-Nations Test in Auckland.

Bradford Bulls centre Shontayne Hape and Hull's Motu Tony replace the injured Clinton Toopi ? who scored three tries in the Kiwis' 38-28 victory over the Kangaroos on Saturday ? and Lance Hohaia.

Penrith second-rower Tony Puletua and Iafeta Palea'aesina also come into the side on the interchange bench for the Ericsson Stadium game.

They replace Nathan Cayless, who has stayed in Sydney to be with his partner who is having a baby, and second-rower Frank Pritchard, who has been replaced in the starting line-up by David Solomona.

"Both Shontayne and Motu have been in good form," said McClennan.

"Having to replace Clinton and Lance is a blow but it's a good thing we have some very talented players to replace them with."

McClennan said he is delighted at having a large pool of talent available for selection.

"It makes selections tough, but that's not a bad thing."

Toopi and Hohaia are expected to recover in time to play a part in the remaining matches with Great Britain.

The team: Brent Webb, Jake Webster, Paul Whatuira, Shontayne Hape, Manu Vatuvei, Nigel Vagana, Stacey Jones, Paul Rauhihi, Motu Tony, Ruben Wiki, David Kidwell, David Solomona, Louis Anderson.
Interchange: David Faiumu, Roy Asotasi, Iafeta Palea'aesina, Tony Puletua.

AAP

I cannot wait to see Iafeta Palea'aesina in action again at Test level, he will spice things up amongst the forwards. The human wrecking ball will be just that 10-20m out.

DeeGan

[Super Cronk]

Palea'aesina is a good player...hot and cold at times and cant really play alot of minutes, but holy crap he is huge and almost breaks the line with every hard hitting run he takes. If he could play for an extra 10 minutes with the same intensity he would be an awesome player to have.

[Teegy]

Nice Hape is a great player